Pelham's Thomas Lowery is the Metro Pitcher of the Year. (Dennis Victory/preps@al.com)

Pelham's Thomas Lowery pitches to a Hewitt-Trussville batter in an AHSAA Class 6A state baseball tournament game at Paterson Field in Montgomery, Ala., Friday, May 17, 2013. (Mark Almond/malmond@al.com)

That still meant he started at the bottom on the Panther pitcher food chain. The senior southpaw was a No. 4 starter way back when in 2010.

He worked his way to co-No. 1 status last season as a junior and then the UAB signee took the ball and delivered in every meaningful way this year for the Class 6A state champions.

There were two gems among an array of starts in 2013. Lowery struck out 16 and tossed a one-hitter against Baker in the state quarterfinals.

Then there was Lowery's best when his best was required. He retired 14 straight Hewitt-Trussville hitters at one point against his former coach Jeff Maudlin in a 3-2 victory in the first game of the Class 6A state championship series at Paterson Field.

Lowery finished with his 10th win of the season after a three-hitter in which he struck out 10 Husky hitters. He finished the 2013 season with a 10-1 record, a 1.65 ERA and 116 strikeouts in 85 innings pitched.

The opposition hit just .157 against the 5-foot-10 Lowery this spring.

"You can't beat him," Pelham coach Sean Anderson said. "That's his belief. There's nobody better. You can stick A-Rod or (Albert) Pujols in the batter's box and he's going to think he is going to get them out. That's just the way he's been. He's not big in stature, but he pitches like he's 6-foot-5. He's done that for four years. You can't get any better than that kid."